Austrian Ski Rental Center Uses Datalogic’s Gryphon™ Readers to Automatically Capture Customer Data for Better Service
Overview
Feelfree Snow-Fun-Center in Hochoetz, Austria is a ski rental company that rents a wide assortment of ski equipment to customers while supporting a full ski and snowboard school and equipment storage facility. The center is operated by 50 employees, 5 of which manage the ski rental services. The rental center serves about 200-250 customers each day.
The Challenge
For the past 3 years, Feelfree Snow-Fun-Center has been using a bar code system to track rental equipment for inventory management purposes; however, the center recognized the opportunity to extend its use of bar codes to capture customer information quickly and create an electronic customer database.
Managing the existing customer database consisted of making hand-written notes of each customer’s height, weight, age, shoe size and skiing ability. Manually recording this information for hundreds of customers was very time consuming and the process ultimately became unmanageable as the data could not be easily updated. This system also did not provide any security measures to protect customer information.
According to Peter Fiegl, manager at the Snow-Fun-Center, “Expanding the use of bar codes labels to collect and manage important customer data was critical for our company to build a proper customer database. We needed a solution that could guarantee the accuracy of our customer files. Bar coding would allow us to automate our daily activities, and consequently, reduce errors within this process.”
The Snow-Fun-Center also needed a new solution to combat returns and exchanges. Using a bar code scanning system would allow employees to quickly manage this activity by automatically capturing the data and then saving it permanently in the system. This solution would also replace a system where all records were recorded by hand.
The Solution
Feelfree Snow-Fun-Center was made aware of Datalogic’s services by Montana Ski-Service, a software solution provider headquartered in Switzerland. Montana Ski-Service offers ski rental companies complete software and hardware solutions for daily operations. The company suggested Datalogic’s products as the best scanners available in the market and perfect for automatically tracking and managing data.
Datalogic’s Gryphon™ I GD4100 and Gryphon™ I GBT4100 bar code scanners were selected for the rental center’s point-of-sale (POS) counter. The Gryphon™ 4100 scanner series was chosen for its rich set of features, including high performance reading and reliability in daily use applications.
The Gryphon readers enable rental center employees to automatically collect and permanently store data in the new customer database. Since the data is electronic, employees can easily update customer profiles as needed and the changes are instantly available in the system. Returns can also be easily handled by inexperienced staff members and without searching for manual records.
After the installation, Fiegl stated, “Our automatic customer database significantly enhances the level of service we can offer our customers. For instance, we can now greet our customers on a personal level since their information is stored in our system. Our customers can also rest assured knowing their personal information is kept safe and secure.”
The Results
Montana Ski-Service provided complete support throughout the installation and according to Fiegl, “We are extremely satisfied not only with our new system, but with the performance of the Gryphon bar code readers. With this solution, we can ensure fast and accurate read rates, which is critical for managing the database and providing a satisfying rental experience for our customers.”
For the first time, the Feelfeel Snow-Fun-Center can guarantee an accurate file for existing customers when they come to rent equipment. The automatic capture of customer information also makes it extremely easy and fast to assign new customers. In the extended version and, pending approval of the customer, the data can also be used for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) activities such as newsletters or promotions.
Employees are enjoying the simplicity of the new system and the ease-of-use with the Gryphon scanners. “These are critical components to launching a new system and with the support of our employees, we are confident that the system will not only be used, but appreciated for years to come,” Fiegl noted.
Customer
Feelfree Snow-Fun-Center
Industry
Services
Sub-Industry
Commercial Services
Application
Asset Management
Country
Austria
Datalogic Product
Gryphon™ I GD4100
Gryphon™ I GBT4100
Datalogic Partner
MONTANA Sport International
